Elon Musk Sues OpenAI & Sam Altman Over Contract Breach

Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence company OpenAI and Sam Altman over an alleged breach of contract, according to Reuters.

Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside Altman and others with the initial goal of creating open-source AI focused on benefiting humanity. However, Musk now claims OpenAI has shifted from its original mission in pursuit of profits.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in San Francisco, states that Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman originally approached Musk to start an open-source, non-profit company for developing AI “for the benefit of humanity.” Musk’s lawyers argue OpenAI’s current for-profit model and partnership with Microsoft break this original agreement.

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Musk was a part of the OpenAI board until 2018, when he stepped down. He has kept busy with his electric vehicle company, Tesla, while also acquiring X for $44 billion.

OpenAI made waves with ChatGPT launch

Meanwhile, OpenAI made a huge splash with the launch of its widely popular AI chatbot called ChatGPT. The company’s chatbot became the fastest adopted piece of software in history. Its viral success has already sparked competing chatbots from tech giants such as Microsoft, Alphabet, and numerous AI startups flush with new funding.

Musk’s recent lawsuit seeks to prohibit OpenAI from commercially benefiting from certain artificial intelligence technologies, which he alleges originated from intellectual property and early contributions he provided during the firm’s founding. ChatGPT has paved the way for notable artificial intelligence developments globally.

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OpenAI has been at the forefront of the AI revolution. The company recently announced the launch of Sora, a text-to-video-generation AI chatbot. The launch had also triggered a notable surge in the price of AI cryptocurrencies, including Sam Altman’s controversial Worldcoin.